Abstract for: Estimating energy imbalance gap explaining obesity prevalence among Australian adults

Obesity is prevalent and a significant contributor to health care costs. At its core, obesity results from the imbalance of energy intake and energy expenditure in the body. Such imbalance can be quantified by the energy imbalance gap (EIG), capturing the average daily difference between energy intake and expenditure. Understanding and quantifying the dynamics of EIG enable us to explain the magnitude of changes required to reverse the obesity epidemic, provide intervention targets, and estimate the contribution of different drivers of obesity. In this paper, we use a novel method in system dynamics and apply data from the Australian Health Survey (AHS) to quantify the energy imbalance gap responsible for the Australian adult obesity epidemic over the past two decades. Such result can be used for designing informed sustainable obesity interventions.